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Luke 1:38a

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

This may be some of the most beautiful words in Scripture. Imagine you're a regular teenage girl and an angel comes before you and greets you as a queen (The original translation of "Hail, Full of Grace" indicates more of a regal greeting than the translation would indicate) and says you are to bear the Son of God. How many questions would you have? How puzzled would you be? Mary approaches the situation with a grace worthy of her place in God's plan. She responds with obedience. She doesn't understand how this will happen, what this means for her family and her day-to-day activities, or the plans she might have had in mind for her and Joseph but simply said, "yes". So many times, God puts situations before us that we don't understand. We should look to this grace-filled mother as our model for how to respond. Mary, pray that we always approach God's plan with loving obedience, as you did.